AAAS Board Member and CEO Receive Presidential Nominations to Serve on National Science Board

President George W. Bush has nominated eight people to serve on the National Science Board, including AAAS board member Kathryn D. Sullivan and AAAS CEO Alan I. Leshner. If confirmed by the Senate, they would join former AAAS board member Nina Fedoroff.

The National Science Board was established by Congress in 1950 to oversee and guide the activities of, and establish policies for, the National Science Foundation. It also serves as an independent national science policy body that provides advice to the President and the Congress on policy issues related to science and engineering.

The Board has 24 members appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, plus the NSF director as an ex-officio member.

The terms of the eight nominees would run until May 2010.

Sullivan served 13 years as a NASA astronaut, becoming the first woman to walk in space during a mission of the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. In all, she flew on three shuttle missions, logging more than 500 hours in space. She was appointed to the National Commission on Space by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, and won NASA's Exceptional Service Medal in 1988 and 1991. She also has served as chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Currently, Sullivan is president and chief executive officer of the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio.

Leshner has been chief executive officer of AAAS and executive publisher of the journal Science since December 2001. From 1994 to 2001, he served as director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and before that, as deputy director and acting director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Prior to his appointment at NIMH, he held a variety of senior positions at the National Science Foundation, focusing on basic research in the biological, behavioral and social sciences, science policy and science education.

Earlier, Leshner spent 10 years at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, where he was professor of psychology. His research has focused on the biological bases of behavior.

The other nominees are:

Dan Arvizu, of Colorado, replacing Maxine L. Savitz, whose term expired;

Steven C. Beering, of Indiana (reappointment);

Gerald Wayne Clough, of Georgia, replacing Anita K. Jones, whose term expired;

Kelvin Kay Droegemeier, of Oklahoma, replacing Robert C. Richardson, whose term expired;

Louis J. Lanzerotti, of New Jersey, replacing George M. Langford, whose term expired; and

Jon C. Strauss, of California, replacing Joseph A. Miller, Jr., whose term expired.

24 September 2004